As GOP candidates shift their sights to New Hampshire, its residents are demanding more answers to the opioid crisis, which they say is plaguing the prominent swing state.
Many New Hampshire voters, such as recovered addict Kristina Amyot, say they are frustrated with how Republican candidates have prioritized border security and law enforcement over treatment and recovery efforts, the Associated Press reported.
“I feel like every four years it gets talked about, and then it gets lost. We don’t really do much with it, and that’s something that needs to change because this should be one of the top priorities,” Amyot told the outlet. “To think that these people don’t care about us is really sad.”
While former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) have pledged to use the U.S. military to secure the border and fend off drug cartels, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley wants to stop trading with China because the country is the primary source of chemicals used for synthesizing fentanyl shipped to the U.S. and which was responsible for more than 100,000 fentanyl-related deaths in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The drug problem has been surging across the country since opioid painkillers began being overprescribed to patients in the 1990s. Following in its footsteps was a heroin epidemic and the subsequent rise of fentanyl, which has accelerated the opioid crisis.
In 2022, more than 80,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States, while 486 of those deaths occurred in New Hampshire, according to the CDC.
New Hampshire’s drug overdose death rate was the second-highest in the nation in 2015, with West Virginia taking the top place, and in 2022, there was an 11% increase from the previous year, according to the Associated Press.
Jay Ruais, a Republican mayor of the largest New Hampshire city, Manchester, told the Associated Press there has to be more focus on the recovery end of the problem.
“I think we also have to address it on the demand side as well. What are we doing for prevention for kids in schools? What are we doing for those who need more treatment? What are we doing for people who are outside of treatment?” Ruais said.
Kerry Norton, co-founder of a recovery facility for pregnant women struggling with substance abuse, told the outlet she is looking for a president who acknowledges that substance abuse is a public health emergency, saying going after drug cartels or focusing on border problems related to the problem don’t help those who have already been affected by drug use.
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“I’m not an expert in any way on how controlling the border is going to help,” she said. “What I do know is helping people have affordable health care, affordable housing, and basic rights and support is what will help here in New Hampshire.”
Residents will cast their votes in the New Hampshire primaries Tuesday. Trump averages 44.5% support in the state compared to Haley’s 31% and DeSantis’s 5.8%, according to RealClearPolitics.